McLemore, Oladipo, Smith will enter NBA draft

Ben McLemore of Kansas, Victor Oladipo of Indiana and Russ Smith Jr. of Louisville were among several underclassmen who declared for the NBA draft yesterday.

McLemore, a second-team All-American, is expected to be a lottery pick in June after breaking the Jayhawks’ freshman scoring record held by Danny Manning. McLemore averaged nearly 16 points for a team that went 31-6 and won a share of its ninth straight Big 12 championship.

Oladipo, a junior, was a first-team All-American. He was the Hoosiers’ second-leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points to go along with 6.3 rebounds.

Smith, a junior, averaged 18.9 points, including 23.3 in six NCAA Tournament games that culminated with the Cardinals winning the championship on Monday night.

New Mexico’s Tony Snell and Providence’s Ricky Ledo also announced that they are going pro.